2009 Garden

This past summer we have a particularly successful vegetable garden. The best plants were two "patio" hybrid tomatoes (more about them above) that I had started about 6 weeks prior to outdoor planting. When first brought outside they were put into two separate large terracotta pots that were filled with soil made from composted chicken excrement bought at a local plant nursery. This turned out to be a near disaster as the plants stopped growing an began yellowing and dying off. I strong advise against using any soil of this kind and I never will in the future. I believe it was suffocating the plants roots and although perlight or vermiculite probably could have been added to it to lighten it up, my advise is still to stay clear of the stuff. To replace it we refilled the pots with Miracle Gro soil and it turned out phenomenally. The tomatoes tuned right around and by the end of the growing season had churned out a total 14 large red tomatoes and a good 25 more green ones coming. In two other large terracotta pots were Swiss chard, Kale, Oregano and Collard greens all of which thrived in the new dirt.